Chapter Two
‘IT’S WHAT YOU WANT…and what I want.’
That was the indisputable truth, Tabby conceded.
But Aristide made it sound so simple, although wasn’t it simple?
she asked herself. Two young people surrendering to an attraction and getting together, two people unlikely, it seemed, to meet again.
It was just he wasn’t the more ordinary salaried guy she had assumed he was, no, he was evidently quite wealthy.
But ought she to hold that difference against him?
My goodness, Violet would enjoy this story…
Only as soon as Tabby thought that, she reddened, knowing that there was no way she would be sharing this particular story with her sister.
She suspected that her twin would be a little shocked by what she was about to do, not judgemental, of course, but definitely surprised.
It was more likely a tale she would tell somewhere down the road after this fake-marriage nonsense was behind her and life had returned to normal.
Aristide was still holding her hand, she registered, and she liked that, liked that quiet connection so much that it was a disappointment when he freed her fingers and the limo stopped and it was clear that they were about to leave the car.
A faint darker line of colour scored Aristide’s cheekbones as he curved a guiding hand to her slender back on the way into the exclusive restaurant.
Once again he was wondering what was wrong with him because it was a challenge to keep his hands off her, even in a non-sexual way.
What was that about? Maybe he would find out what she was doing over the weekend, extend their future.
No, he told himself harshly, that would be getting into relationship territory and he wasn’t going in that direction ever again.
As they were greeted at the door like important people and led through the packed tables, her companion acknowledging several comments, Tabby felt severely underdressed for the first time in her life.
Her little cotton sundress didn’t cut the mustard amongst company that wore glittering jewels and cocktail-type frocks.
Cheeks warm, she sank down at the secluded table, grateful they weren’t in the centre of the dining room where she had already spotted a couple of famous television actors.
Aristide could read her expressive face as easily as a book.
The surroundings intimidated her and he should’ve put more thought into their location.
Since he hadn’t, he endeavoured to tease and entertain her while she perused the menu.
Before very long, her easy smile was back and she was laughing.
He couldn’t take his attention off her and it felt too intense for him and a shard of uneasiness pierced him afresh.
He didn’t want to be involved, he didn’t want to get involved and he was handing out the wrong signals, wasn’t he?
One night or even two was his limit and he didn’t wish to mislead her.
Striving to cool his attitude, he became quieter.
Tabby was mesmerised by Aristide, the ease of his manners, the witty edge to his conversation, the way his attention never once strayed from her even though there were two very beautiful, well-dressed women at a nearby table.
And when it was time to leave and she only then thought of what lay ahead, she found herself getting nervous and quieter as well.
She knew that she could say that she wanted to go home and Aristide was unlikely to say anything, she reckoned.
He had been way too kind to her to suddenly turn nasty, she reasoned.
The only problem was that she didn’t want to leave Aristide behind, didn’t want to backtrack and never know what it would be like to be with him.
And that seemed to be telling her that, for her, he was the right guy.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked uncertainly as the limo drove off again.
‘To my home here. It’s an apartment,’ Aristide imparted, releasing his belt and leaning closer. ‘I’m not sure that I can contain myself that long. I want to kiss you—’
A faint scent of cologne assailed her nostrils, reminding her of icy forest nights and, beneath it, the aroma of clean, husky male.
He smelled so good she wanted to bottle him and sniff that scent like an addict.
‘Go ahead,’ she framed raggedly, meeting eyes like dark beaten gold in the lights flickering through the tinted windows of the dark streets outside.
His mouth closed over hers and she was electrified from that first moment.
It was that connection she had sought and waited for and never found.
Her heart was beating so fast it seemed to be in her ears.
He kissed her breathless, his tongue delving deep, teaching her other longings, other needs, spurring a building tightness between her slender thighs.
‘We’re here…’
Aristide was, once again, unsettled as he had forgotten where they were.
He climbed out, hugely aroused, struggling not to recall that the last time he had kissed anyone like that, he had been about sixteen or so.
And his first thought, a kneejerk reaction, was ‘send her home’.
It was followed by the awareness that there was no way he could do that without discovering what it was about Tabby Blessington that sent him into a tailspin.
He would find out that it was simply a stronger than usual case of sexual attraction, he told himself soothingly.
‘My goodness, how long were we doing that for?’ Tabby mumbled as he ushered her into the lift.
‘I don’t care,’ Aristide admitted, reaching for her again to cover her kiss-swollen lips with his own.
Feeling his lean, powerful physique sealed to hers unleashed another whole set of effects in Tabby. He virtually carried her through a door into the apartment and she was blind and mute, seeing nothing, saying nothing, only wanting the taste of him back on her lips and the feel of him against her.
Aristide scooped her up into his arms and carried her down to his bedroom. They had finally got there and he could hardly hold his libido back. Never had he felt such impatience, such eagerness.
Tabby surfaced from that mindlessness that had gripped her from the instant he’d touched her and gazed at him with concealed wonder.
She was feeling what she had always dreamt of feeling, physically and emotionally and, even though she had told herself that there was nothing emotional about what she was about to do, she ignored that self-warning.
Aristide cast off his jacket, yanked at his tie, kicked off his shoes. He was struggling to hold back, to pace himself, stay in control. ‘I find you incredibly attractive,’ he confided in a driven undertone.
Tabby followed his lead more awkwardly and slid off her heels, pausing, not quite sure whether she should be stripping, which she was a little too shy to do for the first time with a man. Should she be waiting for him to undress her?
He came back to her and kissed her again and she felt his hands at her shoulders.
Taking courage, she stepped back and lifted the dress off over her head, which was the only way to remove it, leaving herself bare but for her bra and panties.
He pulled her back to him and then she remembered the one thing she had sworn she would never forget, and she pulled free to run back and grab her little envelope purse and dig into it for the item there she had been carrying round for just such a purpose for years.
Cheeks scarlet, she pressed it into his hand and said shakily, ‘Use this…’
A woman had never in Aristide’s entire existence handed him protection to use before because he always used his own.
It was a weird request, he thought, but everyone had their quirks and possibly this was hers.
He tossed the condom down on the bed and embarked on unbuttoning his shirt.
His hands weren’t quite steady because any kind of control when she set him on fire was a challenge.
He hadn’t argued and Tabby was hugely relieved but, ever since being warned that there was an occasional man who damaged protection because his private kink was ‘breeding’ from a woman or because he was keen to pass on some unmentionable disease, she had been determined that such a thing would never happen to her.
Not that she thought Aristide was of that ilk, yet how could anyone know such a thing if only one night was to be shared?
Better safe than sorry, she reflected, glad that that moment of embarrassment was already past.
The shirt dropped to the floor and revealed Aristide’s breathtakingly male physique.
Her admiring eyes roamed over prominent pecs, an indented torso, strong biceps and the legendary V muscles disappearing below the waistband of his trousers.
He was so beautiful, top-to-toe beautiful like a pin-up, and she marvelled that she had never before seen a male in that light.
Aristide surveyed her slender frame with fierce hunger roaring through him.
She was sort of hovering beside the bed, giving him the vibe that she hadn’t as much experience as he might have thought, but that was no deal-breaker for Aristide, who had once fallen intensely in love with a woman simply because he’d believed that she had chosen him to be her first lover.
The treacherous betrayal that had followed a few years afterwards still bit deep.
Ever since then, the concept of virginity had turned him off. It was a social construct, an out-of-date expectation that had once wowed his ancestors, not something he would ever seek on his own behalf. It certainly didn’t mean that that virgin would magically be pure of heart and faithful.